The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-07-22
WORKMEN TORN TO PIECES
A Frightful and Sickening Accident on
the Line of the Erie Railway.
An Express Train Dashes Into Crowd of
Italian Laborers, Killing and Manning
Twelve or Fifteen Men-H0rrible Scenes.

New YORK July 2I-One of those friehtful
accidents which come with appalling suddenness
when there is no apparent reason why they could
not be easily avoided, took place this morning
on the Erie railroad between Allendale and
Hohokus. The catast rophe attended with
appalling loss of life, and a dozen
mangled bodies the track attested th Q neglect
of some one whose duty it should have been to
give warning of the impending disaster A gang
of italian laborers were at work balasting on
the railroad a little distance from sharp curve
about three-fourths of a mile above Hohokus.
The Chicago express. which due an hour
before, had not arrived. and these men were
busy at work. unconscious OF the terrible fate
which was in store for them. At a quarter past
7oclock train No. IL. the delayed express, rushed
round the curve before the men had the slightest
warning and dashed through them, killing
twelve or fifteen the spot and woundng many
others. The shrieks of the victims were heart
rending, and when the train slowed up. the
track presented the sickening sight of being
covered with mangled bodies, the rails being
spattered with blood and broken limbs pieces
of ragged flesh being scattered in all directions.
Some of the bodies were mangled beyond de-
scription and crushed out of all resemb ance of
humanity. To most of the victims death must
appeared to be yet quivering and life ebbing
away when the train brought to a stand
still There was only fifteen minutes delay,
and the train which had wrought 80 much dis
aster proceeded its way from Allendale to
Hohokus. The question of who is to blame is
yet to be settled, but it is claimed that it was
the duty of the foreman of the gang of laborers
TO watch for approaching trains at the dangerous
curve, and that he must have neglected to give
the warning whistle.
Mr.. w. L. Hudson. a passenger on a local
train which behind the Chicago express. in
conversation with a reporter, described the
of the most sickenrg that could
be witnessed. ''Along the track he said,
''were arms. legs, trunks and other
parts of bodies. and the tracks for a
long distance slippery with
blood The disaster must have taken place
with such appalling suddenness that the men
did not know till the train was down on them.
The conductor of the train on which I rode said
that the train hands of the express were not to
blame He believed the foreman of the gang
was responsible for tho disaster by neglecting to
give warning
Another account of the accident says that
about one hundred Italians were at work on the
road-bed when a train came along and the Ital-
ians stepped onto the other track to allow it to
go by, but just then the Chicago express thun-
dered down on them at the rate of fifty miles an
hour and literally moved its way through. sling
ing the unfortunates right and left, tearing legs
and arms and heads off and grinding flesh into
the road-bed for two three hundred feet. So
fierce the shock that although the engine
struck nothing but human beings, the strongly
built cow-cotcher torn, twisted and broken
into pieces
Some of the Italians crowded in against
the docks in very narrow space and they
crouched down in terror The engineer of the
express reversed his engine and was coming to a
stop when the passengers told him to go ahead.
Looking back they the uninjured Italians
acting like Inaniacs- They were yelling, gestc-
ulatine and tearing their clothes. Some were
kneelin2 and others rushing about in the middle
tof tile chastity pile of mangled bodies When
they saw the train stopping they made rush :
for il, and had they reached it undoubtedly the
engineer, fireman and conductor would have been
murdered. For this i. was deemed best
to come to Jersey City. where the engineer
and conductor were coseted with the officers OF
the road and away from where they could be in
yad